Posts tagged murder
The Lincoln Lawyer – Movie Trailer
Mar 30th
Posted by Channel 1 Networks in Movie Trailers
Matthew McConaughey stars in this legal thriller as a low-rent defense attorney named Mickey Haller. Most of the time, Mickey barely keeps his head above water, representing low-life clients and working out of the back of his car. He thinks he’s landed the case of a lifetime when he’s hired to defend a rich playboy (Ryan Phillippe) who stands accused of rape and attempted murder, and eagerly accepts his new client and the massive payoff that’s sure to come with him. But Mickey soon discovers that he’s become ensnared in a twisted plot where no fee in the world is high enough to pay for the deadly workload, and his only hope of survival may just lay in his own skills as a long-practiced double-crosser.
“Barney’s Version” One Man’s Marriages
Mar 17th
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“One Man’s Marriages”
BARNEY’S VERSION tells the story of Barney Panofsky and covers 36 years in the life of this hard-drinking, cigar-smoking, hockey-loving Canadian TV producer and especially of his three marriages.
Barney is played by Paul Giamatti, and we can assume from the film’s title that what we see are Barney’s version of everything, in particular one event that resulted in the death of his best friend, who played a major part in the ending of Barney’s second marriage, which got off to a very bad start on the day of the wedding.
The film begins in the present, and we see Barney make a phone call at 3:30 a.m. supposedly to talk to Miriam, who was his third wife.
However, when a man answers the phone, he tells Barney that he isn’t going to wake up Miriam in the middle of the night just to talk to Barney.
So, Barney says, “Just ask her what she wants me to do with all these nude photos I have of her.”
Now, we never see those photos, and given what we will eventually learn about Barney, they might not even exist, but either that statement or possibly just the late-night phone call itself might have caused something serious to have happened to the man who answered the telephone.
Then we learn that a retired police detective has just published a book that claims that Barney got away with murder over an incident that happened in Barney’s past.
The movie then has its first of many flashbacks, and we are back in 1974 in Rome, Italy, where we see Barney living it up with all his friends.
Barney is the only one with a real job, and when the woman he is dating gets pregnant, Barney decides to do the decent thing and marry her.
However, Clara reveals information about herself that all comes up as a surprise to Barney, and when the baby is born, Barney learns that he isn’t even the father.
Then we switch to 1975 and Montreal, where Barney is working for his uncle, who introduces Barney to a nice Jewish girl from a wealthy family, who becomes Barney’s second wife.
We also meet Barney’s father, played by Dustin Hoffman, who is a retired policeman.
BARNEY’S VERSION is 36 years of one man’s very interesting marriages.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Next Three Days” One Terrific Thrill Ride
Nov 25th
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“One Terrific Thrill Ride”
THE NEXT THREE DAYS is an exciting thriller that has you on the edge of your seat trying to guess what happens next and wondering if it is going to turn out the way you want it to.
Now, if you heard that it’s about a married couple in Pittsburgh, he’s a college professor and she’s his wife, you would probably pass on seeing it, right?
Right, but you would be wrong.
Russell Crowe plays John, Elizabeth Banks plays Lara, and they are anything but ordinary.
You see, three years earlier Lara was arrested, tried, and convicted of murdering her boss in a parking garage, but we don’t know if she did it and John is convinced that she couldn’t have done it.
In fact, when he and their son Luke visit her in jail, John tells her, “Everything is going to be all right. I promise.”
And then begins the extraordinary part of the story in which this mild-mannered college professor begins to figure out a plan in which he can break Lara out of prison, because all their appeals have failed.
First, he begins with an expert, Damon Pennington, played by Liam Neeson, who tells John in a wonderful scene that escaping from prison is easy, but the hardest part is staying free. He also tells John that Pittsburgh is “tough” and gives John exact details about what the authorities will do once someone breaks out of prison.
Naturally, John runs into difficulty acquiring the fake IDs he needs, as well as obtaining enough money to live on for five to six years.
In addition, John might be being watched by the police, and he can’t tell Lara about his plan, because he knows that she wouldn’t agree to it.
And then once the breakout occurs, the movie turns into one exciting scene after another, and it couldn’t get any more exciting.
A major hitch in John’s plans comes up, the story gets tighter, time is running out, and then a shock to end all shocks occurs, and it still isn’t over.
You ask yourself how you want it to end, and then there are some very nice touches at the end.
THE NEXT THREE DAYS is one terrific thrill ride without anything being blown up that keeps you guessing all the way to the end.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”